Fundraising A-Z Thank you for downloading our fundraising guide. We are a local charity so every penny of our income is spent protecting wildlife across our region, and every donation, no matter how big or small, is welcome. For each letter we have given some ideas of how we might run an event and some other ideas to spark your creativity. But before you start, here are our top tips for stress-free fundraising.
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Buddy up - If you haven’t raised money for a charity before, find a friend who shares your passion for wildlife and work together. Whether training together or bouncing ideas off each other, you’ll keep each other motivated.
Start Small - It’s easy to get carried away, plan to raise thousands and end up stressed, out of pocket and vowing never to get involved with fundraising again! Every pound raised is an extra pound to protect wildlife and every little helps.
Plan - Whether it’s a training schedule, organising a film showing or a car wash think about exactly what you need, how much it will cost, who will support you and who will help.
Budget - And stick to it! If it’s a charity event people won’t expect fancy china or seat covers at an afternoon tea. If they’re attending they want their money to go to protecting wildlife too!
Ask! - Many places offer a discount or deal for a charity event so it doesn’t hurt to politely ask. Free room hire with a minimum bar spend, discount on book club bulk buys and raffle donations are an easy ask.
Advertise! - Thanks to social media it’s never been easier to let others know about your event. Local groups & pages are great for reaching lots of people. It’s good manners to ask admins before posting but most will allow charity events .
Tell - Let people know why protecting wildlife is important, remind them our food relies on insects & our planet relies on trees. Have a table with some of our leaflets and forms for people to sign up and learn more.
Bank! - Please send us the money you’ve raised as soon as possible so we can send you a certificate you can share with everyone involved so they know their donation is already being put to good use.
Celebrate! - Take lots of pictures and send them to us with the money you’ve raised so we can celebrate your success too! We love seeing creative ways our supporters find to raise money to protect local wildlife.
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Auction of Talents What skills do you and your friends have that others need? Can you clean a house, cook a meal, service a car or design a web page? Many pubs will let you hire a room for free if you can guarantee a minimum bar take Afternoon Tea (and some will give you a percentage of bar bills for a charity event!) Get a good MC who will buoy the crowd and get them bidding!
Book Club Choose an inspirational book about wildlife or nature like Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer or Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. (Again check with your bookseller, many shops will offer a discount for bulk buys.) Ask people to donate ÂŁ5 to come along and discuss the book. Wine optional.
Car Wash Grab buckets, sponges and soap, print some posters, ask people to share on local social media groups and get cleaning! Kids especially like getting involved in this chore that feels more like fun. Set a price or ask for a donation.
Disco Whether a lunchtime disco in the staffroom at work, afterschool, or even silent disco in the park - work out how much a DJ and room hire will cost (remember to ask for charity disco-unt), divide by how many people you think will realistically come and add a couple of pounds for entry price.
Extreme Challenge Ever wanted to run a marathon, climb a mountain or do a skydive? Make a promise to yourself to do something WILD and ask friends and family to sponsor you.
Bike Ride Bake Sale Bingo Barn Dance
Curry Night Charity Ball Christmas Wrap Service
Dress Down Day Dress Up Day Donation Box
Easter Egg Hunt Ebay
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Film Night There are so many amazing films about wildlife, nature and climate change. Some of our favourites include Grizzly Man, BlackFish, Pocahontas, My Neighbour Totoro, An Inconvenient Truth, Before the Flood and Okja. Choose your movie, venue and make your own popcorn and mocktails to sell. You can get a single showing film licence from as little as £75, see gov.uk/showingfilms-in-public for everything you need to know.
Garden Party Invite people to don their best hats and come have a picnic in your garden. You can be Queen (or King!) Ask young family members to be servers, decorate picnic hampers or boxes and ask for contributions on the door. (You could even run mini beast hunts or butterfly spotting competitions!)
Hundred Club This takes a little more organisation and commitment but can raise lots of money over a year. Players buy a number for £3 a month (but have to commit to a whole year by paying the annual fee or setting up a direct debit). Once all the numbers are sold, and there is no limit to how many an individual can have, 3 numbers are pulled at a monthly draw. First prize is £50, second prize £20, Third prize £10. That leaves a profit of £220 a month - or £2,640 a year! There are lot’s of helpful hints and tips here pta.co.uk/easyearners/100-club.aspx
ID the Baby
Fish & Chip Supper Fun Day Five a Side
Games Night Garage Sale Guess the name / weight / number
Haunted House Haggis Hunt
ID a Tree Ice Cream Sundae
A fun one for work - ask everyone to bring a photo of themselves as a baby, ask people to pay a small amount to guess who the baby is, the person who gets the most right could win a small prize.
Join Us! Our members are the lifeblood of our work to protect wildlife across Birmingham and the Black Country. If you’re already a member, thank you, we couldn’t do what we do without you. Do you have a friend who would like to join or a child you might like to buy a gift subscription for? Check out all the options at bbcwildlife.org.uk/ membership
Jar Tombola Jeans Day Jellybean Count
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Karaoke You can go the whole hog at a local pub or dig out the Sing Star games consoles disks. Have a raffle, sell refreshments, give out awards and have a Kracking good time!
King for a Day Knit & Knatter
Line of Coins
Line Dance
Lots of people have a jar of small change, ask them to bring it and see how long a line of coins you can make. Mark out a space on a path or playground with potential distances - an average oak tree, how far a buzzard can see, how far a hedgehog will travel in one night... If you don’t have enough help to keep an eye on a whole line, starting from the centre of a spiral works well too - and you can get brilliant pictures from above! At the end of the day count the change into bags and bank for wildlife!
Mud Slide
Mud Run
Tarpaulin, water, environmentally friendly washing up liquid and a muddy slope… charge per slide or discount for 5. Make sure everyone brings a towel and clean clothes for after!
Nearly New Especially good in the run up to Christmas or Summer holidays, a nearly new sale is always a good way to raise money. Sell tables for £10, add a refreshment hub selling drinks and cake and you’re good to go!
No Laugh Challenge
Would your workplace adopt us as their Charity of the Year or become a corporate member? Working together for good cause is a great way to bring people together and get the best out of a team. Email info@bbcwildlife.org.uk to find out more about options with local businesses.
Seasonal, but who doesn’t love a pancake race or pancake flipping competition! Sell pancakes to eat, with sweet and savoury fillings and give prizes for most flips, worst flips or even longest stuck to the ceiling...
Music
Nature walk
Office Collection
Pancake Race
Limbo
Obey Day Odd Socks
Party Pamper Day
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Quiz Everyone loves a quiz! Make the questions suitable for your audience, it is frustrating to enter a quiz where you need obscure specialised knowledge or where the questions are so easy it’s no fun. As well as traditional wildlife questions prepare cards asking people to identify the tree leaf, flower, tracks or animal home (check out wildlifewatch.org.uk/spotting-sheets for ideas). For some reason children particularly enjoy identifying pictures of animal dung...
Record Breaking!
For the more adventurous. Google ’charity skydive’ to find an expert centre who will make your skydive both safe and exhilarating alongside fundraising tips. Don’t forget to send us the video!
Queen for a Day
Raffle
This works well as team challenges and most equipment can be borrowed from local groups. Tallest dice tower, most marshmallows eaten with chopsticks in one minute, biggest papercup tower in 3 minutes, best lego creation… the more bizarre the challenge the better!
Sky Dive
Quilt
Recruit a Member
Race
Sponsored something Scavenger Hunt Spotting Challenge
Tasting
Sport
Tug of War Tuck shop
Do you have an independent cheese, wine, gin or other local specialist food producer? How about organising a tasting? Sell tickets, ask for a percentage of sales for the Trust and help an independent business expand their market. Win win.
Unwanted Items From asking everyone at your school, club or workplace to fill a charity bag that will be collected and paid for by weight to selling at a car boot, on ebay or local social media selling page, a clear out is good for the soul and can benefit local wildlife!
Ukulele Club Unicorn Party
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Vacation / Staycation Turn a room into a tropical get away, turn off the TV, play a soundtrack of tropical birds and gentle waves, get out your deckchairs, fill a tiny paddling pool with water for dipping toes, provide a menu with waiter service for cocktails, mocktails, meals and snacks. Charge per hour or per day!
Vintage Verse
Wild Walk
Wildlife Talk
Wedding Donation We’re asking thousands of people across the region to organise a Wild Walk in the last week of June. You can organise your own Wild Walk or join one of ours. Sign up for updates and our free pack full of tips to have a successful event and guides to truly seeing the under appreciated, everyday wildlife that is all around us bbcwildlife.org.uk/ wildwalk
Xmas Xchange!
eXtinct
Hold a post Christmas get together to exchange well intentioned but misguided gifts. Charge a small entry fee and sell cheap refreshments, an easy one to do at home with friends.
Yum! Host a Bake Off competition with a small entry fee and selling slices of cake after judging. Have different categories so everyone can enter their speciality - as well as traditional breads, cakes, pies and biscuits how about curry, burgers or tacos? This would work well as part of a bigger Fun Day or monthly themed competition at a work place or community meeting.
Zumbathon! How long can you Zumba for? Get a group together and see how long you can keep going. This one really is the more the merrier!
Yodel Yoga Yard Sale
We would love to show our appreciation and keep in touch with people who have supported your efforts and events - please use our template sponsorship and attendance forms to use so that all information meets legal requirements These can be downloaded from bbcwildlife.org.uk/fundraising
After your Event It’s really important that we are able to bank any income as soon as possible to keep it safe, let your supporters know their money has gone where it was promised and start using it for protecting wildlife! So when you’ve had a cup of tea and recovered please send your cheque, made payable to The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country, to Centre of the Earth, 42 Norman Street, Winson Green, B18 7EP - please include the form at bbcwildlife.org.uk/fundraising ‘After Your Event’ with details of your event and your contact details so we can send you a certificate and celebrate your achievements with our supporters. Alternatively you can contact us for bank transfer details on 0121 523 0094 and send images to info@bbcwildlife.org.uk
Thank You
For being a wildlife lover, walking the walk and going the extra mile. You’re AMAZING!